Chapter 15: Stephanie

May 14, 1990, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve, I have the final contract from Jamie for you to sign,” Elyse said.

“Were there any last-minute changes?” I asked.

“Just a couple of wording changes which Dante’s lawyer asked for. Jamie was fine because they just clarified the terms. Nothing of substance changed. I have a red-lined copy for you to compare if you want.”

“If it’s just lawyer stuff, I’ll leave that to the experts.”

“It’s just lawyer stuff.”

I took the contract from her, quickly scanned the terms, all of which matched my notes from my last conversation with Dante. I scribbled my signature on the contract and pushed it back to Elyse.

“I’ll have it couriered to Dante to sign today. You know he wants to start tomorrow, right?”

I chuckled, “Of course he does; Dave and I talked about it. Greg, Julia, and I are going to see him tomorrow morning at 9:00am.”

“You’re sure about taking Greg?” she asked.

I nodded, “He promised me he’d wear a tie!”

Elyse laughed, “I’d PAY to see that!”

“I guarantee it’ll come off before he gets to the office. He’s meeting us there because it’s easier for him to go there first than to come to Hyde Park just to go out to Lombard.”

“Let me get this to Keri so she can call the courier, then I’ll be right back.”

She was back three minutes later.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you last night because you went out to dinner and then went straight to bed when you arrived home. How did it go?”

“Good, I think. The proof is in the pudding, but she did promise me that she’d get help and follow my dad’s plan.”

“You do know the correct version of that idiom, right?” Elyse smirked.

“Of course I do,” I chuckled. “‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating’, but everyone says it the way I did, so I just used it. OK, Miss Pedantic?”

Elyse smiled, “Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black! Anyway, I saw Stephanie with Ed. Is that a serious thing?”

I nodded, “He’s going to look for a job in Chicago. Once he’s established here and she graduates, he’ll ask her to move in with him. They tried this when they were fourteen and again later on, but they were too young. Now? Maybe it’ll work. In fact, I think it will.”

“And Jorge?”

I shook my head, “His personality just was too weak for her. I don’t know this for a fact, but he let her push him around, and, in the end, that’s what ruined things. You know he’s not big on confrontation and is mostly pretty passive.”

“He’s a really, really sweet guy. Jennifer and Josie really love him.”

“My sister did, too. But that isn’t enough, as you well know.”

“You and Bethany?”

“Pretty much. For different reasons, but pretty much. One of the things I made Stephanie promise me was to talk to Jorge and make things right. Not get back together, mind you, but try to come to some kind of modus vivendi.”

“What about the disorderly conduct charge?”

“We’ll let Melanie deal with that, but she was confident that the worst outcome would be two years of court supervision, at which point even the arrest can be expunged.”

“And she agreed to get counseling?”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to tell your karate instructor?”

“Nothing. That’s up to Stephanie to do. It was part of my conditions.”

“Conditions?”

“For taking her back into my life in a very intimate way, much as I’ve done with Bethany.”

“Your new-found intimacy?”

“It’s not that new, really. Anala was the one who taught me about it. It just took six years to sink in.”

“You can be pretty dense at times!” Elyse laughed.

“At times?”

“True. But you’re doing better. Keep it up. I mean that.”

“I have you, Jessica, Kara, Jennifer, and all the kids to keep me on the straight and narrow. And Bethany, too.”

“But you don’t need to be on the straight and narrow! You shouldn’t be, actually. I bet Bethany told you that.”

I nodded, “She did. She told me not to try to be someone I’m not. But also to stay in control.”

Elyse smiled, “You do know that’s the same thing I’ve been trying to tell you for the past nine years, right?”

“I do. It just took the shocks of Jessica’s meltdown and Nick’s death to finally get it through my thick skull. By the way, we need to do something very nice for Kimmy.”

“Already covered. A weekend at Kohler for her and Gary. All expenses paid.”

“You’re sure that’s OK?” I asked.

Elyse smiled, “Call it a woman’s intuition. I think they have, but if they haven’t, they will. Soon.”

“I’ll leave that to you. How did you pay for it?”

“Your personal Amex.”

“Good. Anything else? Or can I get some actual work done?”

“You do know that what I do and what Julia does is actual work, right?” Elyse said with an arched eyebrow.

I nodded, “It is. For you two. Programming is actual work for me. Just because I’m stepping up to the big chair for a few years doesn’t change that. I guarantee you the second Stephanie is ready, and my dad and Joyce agree, I’ll be out of that chair so fast it’ll make your head spin!”

Elyse smiled, nodded, and left my office so I could get to work. It was a good day, from my perspective, because there were very few interruptions, and I accomplished quite a bit before having to leave to meet Jessica at the hospital. When she and I arrived home, Kara was there waiting for us.

“How was your exam this morning?” I asked after we hugged and kissed.

“A real bear, but I did fine,” Kara replied. “One down and two to go. But I have more important news.”

“Oh?”

“I was offered a lecturer’s position at IIT.”

“Congratulations!” I said. “That’s fantastic!”

“I’m not sure I’m going to take it.”

“Why?” I asked, surprised.

“It’s not the adjunct professorship that I wanted, and it has a huge research requirement if I want to be a professor. I’m not sure I want to dedicate that much time right now. I think I’ll take the position at Roosevelt instead. It’s two classes and a lab during the day, which complements the position at Washington.”

“Whatever makes you happy, Honey,” I said.

“When the kids are a bit older, I could see doing that. But not right now.”

“It’s fine, Kara,” Jessica said. “Be happy. That’s most important! It’s not like either of us have to work to make ends meet. Our husband provides quite nicely for us! You know my salary goes to paying off my loans.”

“We both support you,” I said. “Make your career what you want it to be!”

“I was thinking of doing my PhD in a few years, as well. And I could combine that with a job that required research. When the time comes, I’ll look for the right position for that.”

“As long as you’re happy!”

She smiled, “I have to study tonight. I hope that’s OK.”

“It is. After this week, no more books for you for quite some time! When are your mom and Paul coming up?”

“Thursday. Joyce gave them Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday off. The forecast says possible rain on Saturday, so there’s a good chance the graduation will be in the field house instead of on the baseball diamond.”

“OK. How are you feeling?”

“Fine. The baby isn’t bothering me at all, though I’m a bit tired from all the studying and everything else.”

“Well, go study. I’m going to make dinner soon.”

“Thanks, Snuggle Bear! Thanks, Jess!”

She went to the Indian room to study, and Jessica and I went upstairs to change into comfortable clothes before I started making dinner.

May 15, 1990, Lombard, Illinois

“That went very well,” I said. “Greg, what’s your assessment?”

“It’s a very aggressive timeline, but I think we can do it. When is Penny available?”

“Next week, Monday,” I said. “She’ll be working either three or four days a week.”

“I’m going to need a couple of meetings with their senior engineer to complete the serial interface communication specification. The internal ISA card is a different kettle of fish altogether, but that’s a few months off. Penny is an expert assembly language programmer?”

“She is. I taught her when she was fourteen, and she’s done quite a bit of work since then both in school and for a couple of side projects she’s done.”

“OK. We’ll worry about the specs for that code when they deliver the prototype board in a couple of months. Until then, she can help with the control programs while I do the communication stuff.”

“Purely DOS-based, right?”

“Yes. Mixing Windows into this does not make sense at this point. The engineers and I agree fully on this because none of their customers are using Windows for any testing-related systems.”

“You heard Dante’s comments on that, right?”

Greg laughed, “I did. But you shut him down pretty quickly by pointing out that we’d need to double our price to do that.”

“Money talks with Dante! So did the extra time it would take to do a Windows version. Schedule your meetings with the engineer, and then you and I will meet with Penny next Monday.”

“Will do.”

May 16, 1990, Chicago, Illinois

It had been a quiet day, but there was shocking news — Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets had died suddenly in New York. The initial reports were that he died of respiratory failure due to some kind of bacterial infection. He was only fifty-three years old.

“How does that happen?” I asked Jessica.

“We won’t really know until they perform an autopsy. It could be one of those situations where he felt sick but not sick enough to go to the doctor or hospital, and by the time he did, it was too late. Do you remember the whole ‘Toxic Shock Syndrome’ issue with tampons in the late 70s? Nobody had a clue as to the cause at first, just that women were getting sick. Some died suddenly from that bacterial infection, but most recovered. It’s all about getting treatment quickly enough. Obviously, he didn’t use tampons, but I’m just talking about how it can happen.”

“So it’s possible to have a life-threatening infection but not realize it?” Elyse asked.

“All infections are potentially life-threatening if left untreated. Sure, your body could fight it off, but bacterial infections are nothing to mess with. You want to get medical treatment as quickly as possible.”

“But aren’t the initial symptoms similar to having a cold or whatever?”

“Welcome to my world,” Jessica said. “What you just said is the reason we use ‘differential diagnosis’. Clusters of symptoms can have widely varying causes, from influenza to bacterial infection to cancer. So, we work to eliminate various potential causes until we narrow it down to the one that’s actually causing the problem. The more tests we can do, the more likely we are to make an accurate diagnosis.

“In this case, they said he was admitted with breathing difficulty. That could be caused by a wide range of things, so they’d order a complete blood count and blood chemistry, then look for any gross signs of infection. The blood count would show an elevated white count, which is an indicator of infection but can also be a sign of certain types of cancer. So, you work to narrow it down as quickly as possible while giving supportive care. In Jim Henson’s case, probably a ventilator. And probably high doses of antibiotics by IV.”

“I never thought too much about it,” Elyse said. “Other than my OB visit and my annual physical, I haven’t ever needed to see a doctor.”

“All of those things they do at your checkups, like listening to your heart and lungs, taking your pulse and blood pressure, and checking eyes, ears, nose, and throat, are all looking for telltale signs of disease. Those things have been shown to identify problems early on and allow you to seek treatment. They’re inexpensive and simple to do. It’s where we start with nearly every patient who comes into the ER.”

“I think I’ll stick to finance,” Elyse said. “It just sucks that he died. I really liked The Muppets.”

We all agreed with that sentiment.

May 18, 1990, Chicago, Illinois

“Well, THAT’S a relief,” Jennifer said sarcastically.

We were all in the great room after dinner. Kara was done with finals, and Jessica was taking a break from studying.

“I can’t believe it took this long for that to happen,” I said.

“Seriously? With every Communist country, plus all the Muslim ones, plus the Roman Catholic Church, and a lot of Protestant ones, all lined up calling homosexuality either a mental illness or grave sin, it really surprises you?”

“I suppose not. I guess the WHO is just a bit slow on the uptake.”

“It hasn’t been that long since the DSM removed it, really,” Josie said. “And so far, only Denmark has even taken the half-measure of recognizing civil partnerships between same-sex couples.”

“True. I can’t see anything like that happening here in the next twenty years, at least. Maybe some state will do something along those lines, but nationally? No way.”

“There are too many people like your mom, my dad, and my former pastor for that to happen any time soon,” Kara said.

“Don’t forget our former pediatrician and that doctor on my review committee,” Jessica added.

“One step at a time,” I said. “Those troglodytes will lose in the end, but it’s going to be difficult to beat them. It’s like racism. We’re still suffering from that.”

“What’s racism, Dada?” Jesse asked.

“Not liking someone because of the color of their skin,” I said.

“That’s dumb!” he announced.

“From the mouths of babes,” Veronica whispered.

I smiled and nodded. My kids were not going to be part of the problem. They were going to be part of the solution.

“Changing the subject,” Elyse said. “I assume you saw that East and West Germany signed a treaty merging their economic and social systems as of July 1st? That the Deutsche Mark will be the currency for both East and West?”

“I did. That’s the end, then. The French will whine and cry, but there isn’t much they can do to stop it, even though the UK is on the fence. Seriously, unless the French send in their military, nothing is going to stop East and West Germany reunifying.”

“Your Russian friend, the KGB officer, how is her transition going?”

“I haven’t heard anything, but it was pretty clear from what she said and what Patrick said that the CIA and State Department were going to spend a few months debriefing them. As you can imagine, Lyudmila is ecstatic. She’s graduating, and then she’ll start her graduate work in the Fall.”

“How’s your sister doing?” Katy asked.

“So far, so good. Ed went home on Monday because he didn’t feel right about calling in sick two days in a row. She went to Student Services and asked for a referral for a counselor, and she’s started making amends with people she hurt.”

“What about Sensei Jim?” Kara asked.

“She’ll be talking to him tomorrow,” I said. “I suspect he’ll impose some kind of discipline.”

“What do you think he’ll do?” she asked.

“I have no idea. A lot depends on what she tells and how she tells it.”

“Will you get in any trouble?”

“No, I don’t think so because I encouraged her to turn herself in, so to speak, which is what he would prefer. If she doesn’t do that, then there could be problems if he found out. But she promised to tell him. And I’m sure she will at this point.”

“You know we have to watch her around the kids, right?” Jessica said. “At least until she completes her counseling.”

“You really think she’d hurt one of them?” I asked.

“No, but with her uncontrollable temper and disposition towards violence, we can’t take a chance. I’m not saying she can’t be around them, just that she can’t be alone around them.”

“Why is nothing easy?” I sighed.

“I don’t mean to pry,” Nancy said. “But did we miss something?”

She and Paul had arrived earlier in the day so they could attend Kara’s graduation.

“It’s OK, Mom,” Kara said. “Steve’s sister is going through a tough time.”

“But keeping her from being alone with my granddaughter and the other kids?”

“Nancy,” I said gently, “it’s just an abundance of caution. Stephanie lashed out at me physically, and she was so upset with what happened that she was out of control after that.”

“It’s not an issue, Nancy,” Jessica added. “As Steve said, it’s just being cautious.”

“Speaking of that,” Kara said, “What time is Ed getting here?”

“It’ll be around 11:00pm, or maybe a bit later. He can’t leave until after work, obviously. Stephanie is having breakfast here tomorrow, and he’s going to go with her to the dōjō. Obviously, I’m not going because of your commencement and then the dinner party afterwards. I hope you don’t mind that I invited the Jaegers.”